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May 5, 2010 - No. 84 May Day 2010 Mass Actions Across U.S. Reject Racist Laws and Reiterate Demands for Humane Immigration Los Angeles, California, May Day 2010
May Day 2010 Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law Update on Oaxaca, Mexico • Anti-Mining
Protest at Conference of Latin American Environment Ministers May Day 2010 Mass Actions Across U.S. Reject Racist Laws and Reiterate Demands for Humane ImmigrationMay Day in the United States saw hundreds of thousands of workers, youth and students, women and people from all walks of life standing up in defence of the rights of workers in the face of the escalatating attacks against migrant workers, especially in the state of Arizona. The spirit expressed in the slogans An Injury to One is an Injury to All! and No One is Illegal! resounded across the country against the recent passage of racist immigration law SB1070 by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and similar laws that have been tabled in the legislatures of other states. Workers who have immigrated to the U.S., especially from Mexico and other countries of Latin America, boldly affirmed themselves as being second to none and part and parcel of the U.S. working class. Not only was the racist law opposed, but there was broad unity across the country that the people's longstanding demand for humane immigration laws be carried out.
The largest action took place in Los Angeles, California where up to 350,000 people marched through the city in the largest such action since May Day 2006. There were May Day demonstrations in at least 10 northern California towns, with the numbers of participants ranging from hundreds to thousands. Actions took place in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Fremont, Oakland and Berkeley, San Francisco, as well as in Fresno and Modesto. In San Francisco, California, 6,000 people rallied at 24th Street and Mission and marched to Civic Center demanding full rights for immigrants. As many as 20,000 people streamed through the streets of Seattle, Washington for the tenth annual May Day march for immigrants rights. In Tuscon, Arizona activists report that an estimated 15,000 people took to the streets to celebrate May Day and demand an end to racist anti-immigrant attacks at all levels of government including SB1070, an end to border militarization and in support of immigration reform that is humanitarian rather than punitive. One report on the May Day action noted that "Many gathered for the protest expressed their disgust at 'Arizona Apartheid' and its racial profiling, including attacks on Latino students through new efforts to force public education personnel to enforce immigration law in the schools. Many wore t-shirts and buttons saying 'No paper' or carried signs saying, 'Do I look illegal?' For weeks now, there have been almost daily protests in Arizona against anti-immigrant racism." Approximately 10,000 people rallied in Austin, the capital of Texas, with a large demonstration also taking place in Dallas. Activists report the Chicago action was 20,000 strong.
In
Milwaukee, some 65,000 marched, twice as many as in 2009. In
Minneapolis, about 4,000 people participated in a march. In New York
City, around 15,000 workers and immigrants gathered in Foley Square for
a May Day march around City
Hall.   May Day 2010: Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin In Washington, DC a rally was held outside the White House. During the rally, Illinois Congressperson Luis Gutierrez announced that he and others would engage in an act of civil disobedience, remaining on the White House sidewalk until comprehensive immigration reform was signed or they were arrested. As the crowd militantly chanted, 35 people were arrested while sitting-in on the White House sidewalk wearing t-shirts that read "Arrest me, not my friends." Event organizers have promised continued civil disobedience to demand immigration reform and protest anti-immigrant legislation, such as that just passed in Arizona.
Photo Review United StatesLos Angeles, California
                  Santa Ana, California    Watsonville-Santa Cruz, California   San Francisco         Berkeley, California  Seattle, Washington     Phoenix, Arizona  Tuscon, Arizona   Denver, Colorado     Dallas, Texas   Chicago, Illinois        Washington, DC   New York City       Boston, Massachusetts      (Indymedia, USMLO, Fight Back! News) Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law Growing Boycott MovementArizona Governor Jan Brewer on April 23, signed into law Senate Bill 1070 (SB1070), racist immigration legislation that was broadly opposed not only in Arizona but across the U.S. as well as internationally. Since SB1070 was signed into law, opposition has intensified. A national day of action is planned for May 29 and the State of Arizona is facing a growing boycott movement with many municipal governments taking measures to express their condemnation of the racist immigration law and demand its repeal.
San Francisco, California Mayor Gavin Newsom announced on April 27 a moratorium on official city travel to Arizona. The ban on city employee travel to Arizona took effect immediately, although there are some exceptions, including for law enforcement officials investigating a crime, officials said. Seattle, Washington City Council Member Sally Clark says she may introduce legislation to "restrict travel that may be planned or to conferences that were slated for Arizona [...] it would also ask that we look at any purchasing we do that has to do with products of services from the state of Arizona." The City of El Paso, Texas, has also taken a stand against the law. A resolution passed by city council limits city employee travel to the state of Arizona. El Paso County had already passed a resolution which called for a full ban on the state. Similarly, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin Alderman plans to introduce legislation to boycott Arizona based companies. If the resolution passes, city workers would also not be allowed to go to Arizona for any meetings or conferences. In Washington, DC, all 13 members of city council are sponsoring a non-binding bill that would urge the District to stop doing business with Arizona. Councilmember Michael A. Brown's bill calls on the DC government and Retirement Board to divest themselves of any municipal bonds issued by Arizona, and not to pay for anyone to participate in conferences held in the state. "Today we will encourage the government of the District of Columbia to express its disgust for this discriminatory law," said Brown. "We will encourage the District to use the power of the dollar to fight against policies that institutionalize racial profiling and inequality of any American citizen. The last time a law required citizens to carry 'papers' was during American era of slavery." Councilmembers are also attempting to ban DC's police chief from sharing arrest records with federal immigration authorities as part expressing their rejection of the racist immigration law.
There is also opposition to SB1070 from sports teams and athletes. The Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association will wear jerseys which read "Los Suns" in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals on May 6, "to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation," said team owner Robert Sarver. "However intended, the result of passing the law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question, and Arizona's already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them," he said. The proposal has been welcomed by team members. Said player Steve Nash: "As a team and as an organization, we have a lot of love and support for all of our fans. The league is very multicultural. We have players from all over the world, and our Latino community here is very strong and important to us." Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez, a two-time All-Star first baseman with the San Diego Padres said that he will not play in next year's All-Star Game if the law is in affect, and would like to see Major League Baseball teams boycott spring training in Arizona. (ESPN, NBC, The Atlantic, USA Today, ABC, Arizona Daily Sun, City Insider) Latin American Nations Reiterate
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Within Arizona itself, Flagstaff City Council
voted
unanimously on
May 4 to file suit against Arizona's new immigration law. The decision
directs the city attorney to seek an injunction, either alone or in
concert with other cities or litigants, preventing SB1070 from taking
effect in late July. Councilmember
Coral Evans called the law racist and said she could not abide by
a
law that would target some of the poorest and most vulnerable in the
community. "It is not enough to stand in unity when things are good,"
Evans said, paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr.
 "Paramilitary out of Oaxaca! Jyri and Beti Live! Copala Resists!" |
On Saturday, May 1, Mexico's Attorney General announced a federal inquiry into the paramilitary attack on the Observation and Solidarity Caravan to the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala on April 27 during which people, Beatriz Cariño Trujillo, a Mexican activist, and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from Finland, were shot to death. The announcement came in the wake of intensified demands for the organizers and perpetrators of the paramilitary attack to be brought to justice. Protests have taken place in Mexico, other Latin American countries. The Finnish government has demanded a thorough investigation and wants those responsible be brought to justice. In an attempt to deflect its own responsibility, the State authorities in Oaxaca are suggesting that the organizers of the Caravan should be held to account. ""Whoever organized this caravan will have to answer for it, whoever invited these people ... without taking precautions, because I think these people did not know what the situation and problems in the area were," Oaxaca state Interior Secretary Evencio Martinez said. "[The caravan members] will have to answer, too, for having accepted the invitation."
The largest action against the paramilitary attack was a march of 40,000 people in the streets of Oaxaca on May 1, showing the government and its paramilitary assassins that the people of Oaxaca are not afraid and will not abandon their struggle for sovereignty and for a better world. With one voice they demanded that justice be served to the guilty ranging from the paramilitary leaders to the top officials of the departments of Justice and state security including the current governor, Ulises Ruiz.
The Assembly of Mayors of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI), in Oaxaca also condemned the attack and demanded that the Mexican government conduct an investigation and punish the perpetrators.
In the capital, Mexico City, a rally and march involving thousands of people rallied in front of the Ministry of the Interior to denounce the complicity and inaction of the Calderon government in the face of the assassinations.
Several groups and organizations gathered outside the Mexican Embassy in Costa Rica on May 3. In El Salvador, the group Red Sinti Techan condemned the attack on the caravan. In Europe, rallies were held in Germany, Finland and Belgium. In the United States a rally was held at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles, while in Washington, DC the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights strongly condemned the attack and demanded that the Mexican government ensure prosecution those responsible.
Canada Must Demand that Mexican Government
Shed Light on Horrendous Crimes and
Ensure Justice Is Served
The Québec Coalition on the Socio-Environmental Impacts of Transnationals in Latin America condemns the vile assassinations of Bety Cariño of the Mexican Network of people affected by Mining (REMA, in Spanish) and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, human rights activist and environmentalist of Finnish origin, carried out on April 27 in the Mexican State of Oaxaca. The Coalition also denounces the aggression suffered by the members of a humanitarian Peace Caravan on mission in the area. The Caravan was ambushed by a group of 15 paramilitaries. The armed attack is yet another consequence of the impunity enjoyed by paramilitaries in the area, who operate within a setting of institutional violence against the various forms of social struggle in Oaxaca, more specifically to prevent the development of existing processes towards autonomy. The aim of the Caravan was to break the isolation of the entrapped San Juan Copala Community. The situation within the population is critical. Since the month of January children are to go to school; electricity, drinking water and access to medical care have been cut off.. San Jan Copala is experiencing permanent military harassment and the road leading into the town has been blocked.
Bety Cariño was a human rights activist for over 15 years. She was a member of REMA's national coordinating team and Director of the CACTUS [Centre for Community Support Working Together] Collective. She also participated in the Enlarged Front opposed to Canadian mining transnational New Gold-Minera San Xavier, which continues its operations at the San Xavier mine despite five judgments ordering it to cease its activities.
The aggression is part and parcel of the Oaxaca State government's repressive measures. Ulises Ruiz, the present governor, has a long history of repression and corruption. Indigenous and people's communities and organizations and teachers who opposed the arbitrary actions of the governor have been violently repressed, hunted down and imprisoned. Skillful strategies to manipulate the law have been advanced by the government to charge them with offences they never committed; as a result, dozens of activists continue to languish in jail; others have been assassinated. Ulises Ruiz' terror strategy involved the formation of civil groups of assassins who spread terror within communities, union and community organizations that condemn government barbarity. As a result, 63 people have been assassinated, numerous persons, both men and women, raped, 50 people are disappeared and 500 arrest warrants have been issued against activists for political motives. Violent repression has been unleashed against representatives of indigenous communities, teachers, women and other social groups involved in public and open socio-political activities, forcing them into hiding or into exile, outside the federal State of Oaxaca.
Since June 2009, Ulises Ruiz has orchestrated a
smear, harassment and persecution campaign against the Committee in
Defence of the Rights of the people (CODEPP-AOPPO), which fought
against the establishment of Canadian mining companies in the area.
It is also very disconcerting that an international
observer mission has been attacked and that paramilitaries operate with
full impunity. This constitutes a provocation and an intimidation
attempt against the initiatives of international solidarity support for
social movements opposed to the plunder of natural resources and the
violation of their rights.
The Québec Coalition on the Socio-Environmental Impacts of Transnationals in Latin America is calling upon the Canadian government to demand that the Mexican government shed light on these horrendous crimes and see that justice is served and is demanding that urgent measures be taken by Mexican and Canadian authorities for the protection of international observers and human rights activists.
Gerardo Aiquel - Coordinator
- Québec Coalition
on the
Socio-Environmental Impacts of Transnationals in Latin America
Tel.: 514-270-6089 - gaiquel@web.ca
April 30, 2010
(Translated from original French by TML Daily)
Anti-Mining Protest at Conference of
Latin American
Environment Ministers
The XVII Forum of Environment Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean held in Panama, April 29 and 30, was interrupted by environmental activists who unfurled a banner protesting mining in Panama and the related destruction of the human and natural environment and the pro-mining stand of the government of Panama, the host nation.
The action, organized by the organization Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), targetted Javier Arias, administrator of Panama's National Environmental while he was speaking. Protesters unfurled a banner reading: "Mining = Death. No more Mines for Panama!" and shouted slogans against the Panamanian environmental agency's failure to stop destructive mining and energy projects.
The FAO issued a press communique entitled "Mining Activity Puts Panama in Danger of Extinction" stating that "Food safety, environmental balance, Panama's biodiversity and cultural diversity is in danger of extinction by the activity of surface mines, the majority of which are located in the heart of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor."
Panama President Ricardo Martinelli recently announced that his government wants to open Panama's doors to increased mining and that he is willing to adapt environmental protection laws to encourage the entry of mining corporations. The FAO highlights the hypocrisy of the Panama government hosting the regional conference of environmental ministers, since it has declared its intention to expand the area where mining is allowed into a fragile area crucial to the environmental balance in the whole region. It states: "Gold and copper mining projects such as those in the Donoso area and the future Cerro Colorao mine where 300 concessions are about to be granted are attacks to sustainable development models. Mining concessions are weighing on communities, without any respect for the prior consultations and reports, displacing populations, contaminating water sources and causing irreparable damage to local economies."
The statement further points out that Panama does not have a national food security policy and its government favours the interests of private national and foreign investors over the public interest. The statement also condemns the destructive impact of hydro-electric power plan projects and proposals for oil extraction projects in the province of Darién.
The FAO statement concludes: "We are alerting the national and international community about the seriousness of the Panama government ‘s conduct that threatens the country's future and denies its historic and world responsibility of Panama as guardian of the peninsula and its natural resources."
The FAO, comprised of individual citizens and various organizations, is demanding a moratorium to the mining concessions in Panama and wants sustainable and non-extractive development instead.
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